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Covid19 - Customers FAQs

Published: Tuesday 17th March 2020
Updated: Friday 29th May 2020

To all our valued customers and homeowners,

As a family-owned business, people are at the heart of everything we do, so your safety and health is, and continues to be, our top priority. We are therefore asking everyone to please follow all Government guidelines and stay home, stay safe and stay well.

Our teams are working around the clock to respond to the unprecedented amount of queries they are receiving, and will continue to work relentlessly to get back to you on any concerns or requests you may have on your upcoming holiday with us. Whilst we would ideally want to respond to all our customers immediately, we will need to prioritise customers who are imminently due to travel. However, we will get back to each and every one of you as soon as we are able to - so we very much appreciate the patience you are showing our teams at this time.

We will continue to update this page with more information as and when needed but in the meantime, we would like to thank each and every one of you for your understanding and support during this difficult period. You are the reason our teams come to work every day and love what they do - so we thank you for working with us to ensure we can continue to provide you with the best UK holidays again in the future.

- The Original Cottages Family

FAQs

What is your policy for new bookings?

Booking a holiday is so exciting! Your experience shouldn’t be spoiled by worrying about what would happen if there’s another lockdown. When you book with Original Cottages, you can be assured that our team will be ready to move or cancel your booking, if you need to.

Booking with us gives you the reassurance that if you are unable to go on holiday because:

There are UK Government restrictions on travel due to the Coronavirus outbreak which make going on your holiday impossible

The property or location you have booked is legally closed to visitors due to the Coronavirus outbreak

Then you will be able to choose any of the following options:

Transfer your holiday to new dates in 2020 or 2021, free of charge. Furthermore, if you choose the equivalent dates in 2021, we will freeze the price

Get a credit voucher for the value of your holiday, to spend on any Original Cottages break, to take place before the end of 2021

Cancel your booking and receive a refund to the value of your holiday, minus our booking fee (maximum of £40)

All other booking terms and conditions remain unchanged.

What should I do if I am currently on holiday?

Following the Government instructions, you need to travel home as soon as possible for both your own safety, and for the safety of our homeowners, local teams and local communities.

Can I still make a future booking with you?

We are currently only able to accept new bookings where the arrival date occurs on or after Saturday 4th July 2020.

We will of course continue to monitor the situation and so this may be subject to change.

Can I speak to somebody about my holiday/property?

We understand this is a very difficult time, and our team would be more than happy to speak with you regarding your holiday/property. However, as we hope you understand, our teams are currently experiencing an unprecedented level of enquiries and so may not be able to respond as quickly as they would normally. However, please be reassured that we will come back to you as soon as we are able.

If you were due to travel imminently our team is prioritising your query and will come back to you as soon as possible.

If you are due to travel with us beyond the next 2 weeks, please can we kindly ask that you refer to the FAQs below to help you manage your booking rather than calling us at this time. This will allow us to help those with imminent holidays.

What options do I have if I want to change my holiday booking?

Transferring your upcoming holiday now

Alongside our property owners, we shall do everything we can to help you transfer your holiday to another date, free of our usual administration charges.

If you have a holiday that is due to start prior to 4 July 2020 you can transfer your booking to new dates which suit you, quickly and securely using our website.

You will be able to see future dates when the property is available and then transfer your booking to a later period when it is safe to travel. Once you’ve completed this simple process, you’ll receive an email that confirms your chosen holiday dates.

Should you decide to transfer your holiday to the same dates in 2021, we will ensure prices are frozen to reflect the price you would have paid this year, taking into account any changes in public or school holiday dates.

If you decide to transfer your holiday to a different (non-equivalent) date in either 2020 or 2021, any difference in the price of your new dates will be applied or credited as appropriate at the time of transferring.

If you are not in a position to decide on new holiday dates now, you can elect to receive an e-voucher for the value of the amount paid previously. This can then be used online to make a booking with new holiday dates. Terms and conditions can be found here.

Cancelling your holiday

Bookings due to start between 26 March 2020 and 18 June 2020:

We encourage all our customers to transfer your holiday to another date and alongside our property owners, we shall do everything we can to help you to do this.

If you are not in a position to decide on new holiday dates or would prefer not to transfer your booking and would like a cash refund, please contact us on 0333 2020 899.

If the Government-imposed travel restrictions are extended to cover this period, we shall be in touch with you to discuss your options (including, a cash refund).

Bookings due to start after 4 July 2020:

If you chose to cancel your booking, our standard cancellation terms apply. If the Government-imposed travel restrictions are extended into this period, we shall be in touch with you to discuss your options (including a cash refund).

I have submitted a holiday transfer form and have not heard back, do I need to submit another one?

Our teams are currently managing an unprecedented amount of enquiries - so if you have got in touch with us about amending your booking but are yet to hear back from our team, please be assured that your request is in a queue and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

In order to ensure we can look after all of our customer requests, our team is having to prioritise queries based on the nearest holiday start dates. However, we are working through all queries as quickly as we can and therefore will come back to you on your request as soon as possible. Being able to help you secure your chosen dates, and welcome you to our cottages in the future, means a lot to us so we really do appreciate your patience during this incredibly busy period.

My booking couldn’t go ahead and I’ve got an E-Voucher, how do I redeem it?

In order to redeem your e-voucher, please follow these steps:

Log in to your customer account via the My Account link at the top of this web page. If you have not yet registered an account please select Create an account and follow the instructions.

Select Vouchers in the main menu.

You’ll then see a list of all your vouchers and can click on each one to see more details, including the holiday dates that the voucher is valid for.

Select the voucher you want to use and click Use this voucher.

You’ll be taken to our website where you can select the property and dates you’d like, and make your booking.

The voucher will be automatically applied to the booking and you’ll see it deducted from the total cost. If the value of the voucher is less than the cost of your new booking, you’ll need to pay the remaining amount. (Deposit payments are due immediately and balance payments are currently due 12 weeks before your holiday starts.)

If the value of the voucher is more than the cost of your new booking, the balance will stay on the voucher and you can use it towards another holiday.

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Good Life Lake District Cottages is a trading name of The Original Cottage Company Limited, which is a family-owned private limited company incorporated in England (registered number 06951692). Registered address at Bank House, Market Place, Reepham, Norwich, NR10 4JJ. VAT No. 595 2110 44.